Tuesday, August 01, 2017

When I began teaching privately in the 1970's, tutoring wasn't yet a thing. It wouldn't become a thing till the late 1980's. By the turn of the century, the academic coaching market had long been a billion dollar industry. In 2018, it will surpass $100 billion.

In the old days, it was simply a matter of contacting college admission consultants and academic deans at local private schools, arranging meetings, asking for referrals, and then doing stellar work. Nowadays, with the educational landscape awash in tutors of all stripes, it can be hard to get a foot in the door.

Nevertheless, the basic template for running a successful private educational practice remains the same today as it's always been.

It boils down to five basic rules.

-

Rule 1: Be Excellent

Excellent work is the sine qua non of successful private practicing educational businesses. You solve problems for parents who hire you and create good will for colleagues who refer to you. These are your two top priorities, and must always remain so.

In end, it's all about generating great word of mouth from clients who RAVE about you, and for that you need to do great work, go well beyond the call of duty, and give more value than the money you charge (and if you're very good, you can and should charge a high fee).

Raving fan clients can't stop talking about you and the stupendous value and level of service you provide. They spread your name far and wide, propagating a buzz about you that takes on a life of it's own. Because people only ever hear wonderful things about you, contacts who've never met you begin sending you referrals based solely on the strength of your reputation.

The first task is arguably the most important. Precisely identifying what you're great at doing sets the direction and scope of your practice and clarifies the targets and content of your marketing efforts.

Most private teachers over-generalize and would do well to pare down their offerings to those few at which they're most expert and feel most confident.

By limiting one's offerings to only those market niches virtually no one else can serve as well as you can, you increase the number of raving fan clients you have and boost the velocity with which word of mouth spreads the message of your fabulous service.

-

Rule 4: People will only refer to you if you make them look good.

One of your primary goals with each client is to make your referral source look good by exceeding expectations, giving true service, and producing fantastic results.

It's a good practice to thank referral sources for referrals, and to get back to them at least once with a progress report on how great your student is doing.

Make sure your referral sources hear about it whenever clients they refer express great pleasure with your work.

-

Rule 5: Always quickly follow up enthusiastic praise of your work with a request for positive feedback.

When a student who's been failing algebra suddenly gets an A- and then an A on two consecutive tests, I guarantee you'll get an email message from a new Raving Fan Client praising your skills and expressing gratitude for the wonderful work you're doing.

At that moment, ask for positive feedback.

Such feedback could take the form of an email to the person who referred you, singing your praises. It could be a 5-star Yelp review. At the very least, ask the client if he would please share your contact info with other parents if/when he gets the chance. You can also ask the student involved to give your name to classmates who may be looking for tutoring.

Every time you produce a particularly noteworthy result – as indicated by receipt of high praise – turn it into positive public feedback of some kind.

-

And yes, all this takes copious amounts of energy. Which means, if you're successful, you'll eventually have to limit the amount of work you do.

But that doesn't have to mean putting the brakes on your income. As of 2018, the best private practice educators in the San Francisco Bay Area consistently earn multiple six figure incomes.

About

I help students to learn and love mathematics, produce outstanding results on standardized tests, and thrive as productive, successful scholars. Students of mine go from D's and F's to A's and B's, raise their SAT scores by as much as 450 points or more, and dramatically increase their confidence and competence as thinkers and problem solvers. I began my career as a private teacher giving music lessons at the age of 16, and have operated a professional academic coaching practice for the past four decades. Since 1977, it's been my privilege to serve as academic coach, tutor, and mentor to well over 1500 private students of all ages, helping them to reach the pinnacle of their abilities, attain ambitious educational goals, and achieve enduring success as students and young people. My interests include: Bollywood films, art, archery, Macs, music, recreational math and science, philosophy, psychology, history, comedy, saving the world, and visiting the in-laws in Bali, Indonesia.

Quotes

-

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

As to the militant suffragettes, I have noted that many women believe in militant methods. You might advocate one way of securing the rights and I might advocate another, they both might help to bring about the result desired. To win freedom always involves hard fighting. I believe in women doing what they deem necessary to secure their rights.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.

A successful book is not made of what is in it, but of what is left out of it.

Marriage—yes, it is the supreme felicity of life. I concede it. And it is also the supreme tragedy of life. The deeper the love the surer the tragedy. And the more disconsolating when it comes.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”

Mark Twain

-

"If you cannot solve the proposed problem, try to solve first a simpler related problem."

"Mathematics succeeds in dealing with tangible reality by being conceptual. We cannot cope with the full physical complexity; we must idealize."

"A mathematics teacher is a midwife to ideas."

"A GREAT discovery solves a great problem, but there is a grain of discovery in the solution of any problem. Your problem may be modest, but if it challenges your curiosity and brings into play your inventive faculties, and if you solve it by your own means, you may experience the tension and enjoy the triumph of discovery."

“Whatever the subject, what the teacher really teaches is himself.”

George Pólya

-

"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."

"No nation was ever so virtuous as each believes itself, and none was ever so wicked as each believes the other."

"The desire to understand the world and the desire to reform it are the two great engines of progress."

"Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation."

"Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it."

Betrand Russell

-

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater."

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

Albert Einstein

-

"Teachers have always been—and let us hope, always will be—in the business of trying to get the soul out of bed, out of her deep, habitual sleep."

"Money often costs too much."

"Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis."

"There is properly no history; only biography."

"Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God."